Panel securing device



1951 w. s. MILES 2,563,479

PANEL SECURING DEVICE Filed June 17, 1948 INVENTOR /%LA/AM ,5? M155.

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 7, 1951 PANEL SECURING DEVICE William s. Miles,Hasting signor to Johns-Man s on Hudson, N. Y., asville Corporation, New

York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 17, 1948, SerialNo. 33,500

8 Claims.

The instant invention relates to an improved apparatus for securingbuilding members to a supporting structure. Members of the type withwhich applicant is particularly concerned are fibrous acoustical panelswhich have a plurality of preformed, tubular recesses or perforationsextending inwardly from the exposed faces and part way through thepanels to permit the entry of airborne sound to the interior structure,and the invention will be specifically described in this connection. Itwill be appreciated, however, that itmay also be employed with otherpanels or members where similar fastening problems are involved.

Panels of the type referred to are conventionally secured to thesupporting base wall or other structure either by cementing or bymechanical fasteners, such as nails or screws. Where the latterexpedient is employed, fasteners are driven into the perforationsadjacent the corners of the panels, whereby their heads are more or lessconcealed. Cementing has the serious disadvantage that, particularlyafter a period of time, the ocment tends to relax its grip and it isfrequently found that a number of ceiling panels, for example, willbecome loosened and drop out of alignment or fall completely from theceiling. Mechanical fastening devices overcome this disadvantage butpresent problems of their own due to the relatively soft, readilydestructible character of the panels combined with the necessity ofbringing the heads of the fasteners into holding contact with the bottomof the recesses. The difficulty of performing the nailing or screwingoperation at economical speeds and with conventional tools withoutinjury to the panels will be readily apparent.

The instant invention has for its principal object the provision of animproved method and apparatus for mechanically securing panels of thetype referred to, the method and apparatus greatly facilitatinginstallation of the panels and minimizing the possibility of theirinjury. More particularly an object of the invention is to provide adevice andmethod of driving fasteners of the type of nails into selectedrecesses of the panel by supporting the fastener in a hammer headincluding a tip adapted to enter the recess or perforation andsubjecting the head to vibration or reciprocation to drive the head ofthe fastener into firm engagement with the panel at the bottomof therecess.

An apparatus or tool in accordance with the instant invention includes avibrating or reciprocating hammer of generally conventional typemodified in accordance with the instant invention to have a headincluding a tubular tip extending from its forward face, the tip beingof a length equal approximately to the depth of the recesses. A nail isemployed of a type having a head or collar intermediate the length ofthe shank to define a rearwardly projecting stem to be received withinthe hollow tip with the head resting against the end of the tip. Inoperation and in carrying out the method, the fastener is first placedin the tool, as mentioned above, and the end of the fastener is theninserted in a se lected recess of a panel temporarily held in positionagainst the base structure. The hammer is then operated to drive thenail by the vibrating or reciprocating movement of the hammer head.During the driving operation the fastener is held in an erect positionrelatively to the hammer head, due to the fact that the stem is confinedin the hollow interior of the tip. Asdriving is continued, the tipenters the recess of the panel and moves forwardly until the head orcollar of the fastener is in firm holding contact with the material atthe bottom of the recess.

The process and apparatus permit rapid erection with a minimum risk ofinjury to the panels. The entire opertaion may be performed by a singleworkman and at high speed.

My invention will be more fully understood and further objects andadvantages thereof will become apparent when reference is made to themore detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the inventionwhich is to follow, and to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the method of the instantinvention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of applied panels;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 3-3of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a fastener employed in the instantnivention.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a tool incorporating the inventionready for operation, with a fastener mounted therein;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 6-6of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 4 illustrating a modified fastener.

Referring now to the drawings, the instant invention is illustrated asemployed in conjunction with the installation of a ceiling consisting ofa plurality of panels l0 secured in contiguous relationship on furringstrips 12 or other nail receiving, supporting medium. The panels shownare of a type conventionally used for acoustical correction purposes,namely, fiberboard panels having a plurality of sound entry recesses orperforations l4 extending inwardly from the exposed face to apredetermined depth to permit the entry of airborne sound to therelatively porous, interior structure. The panels are secured inposition by fasteners It as shown in Fig. 4, which are driven throughthe perforations located in the corners of the panels, the nailsextending throughthe unperforated thickness of the material and into thefurring strips. Generally the corner perforations are somewhat shallowerthan the others so that they maybe of the same depth and still leave anadequate thickness of material for receiving the nails in both thick andthin panels.

Nail or fastener l6, as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 7, consists of anelongated shank having a pointed forward end, and a collar or head itintermediate the ends of the shank and relatively adjacent one end todefine a rearwardly projecting stem 20. Fig. 4 illustrates a type ofnail particularly adapted to be driven into wooden furring strips orother supports while the fastener of Fig. '7, comprising a split,spreadable shank, is applicable where the backing structure is a softermaterial such as gypsum board. When the fastener is driven home, asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, head I8 is in contact with the bottom ofthe perforation l4 and the end of stem is preferably somewhat below theouter surface of the panel. Due to the relatively small diameter of thestem and the fact that it is, in effect, countersunk within theperforation, it does not detract from the appearance of the ceiling.

The apparatus or tool employed to drive the nails is indicated generallyby the reference chanacter 22 (see Figs. 1, 5 and 6) and comprises ahammer 24 which may be of either the pneumatic or electrically driventype, a pneumatic hammer being shown, adapted to impart rapid verticalreciprocatin or vibrating movements to a head 26. Such hammers, withordinary nail driving heads, are standard equipment and may be purchasedon the market and no specific description of them is given. Inaccordance with the instant invention the hammer head which may besubstituted for the regular head, is of special construction. Itincludes a central, cylindrical recess extending inwardly from theforward face of the head, the recess including an outer, threadedsection 28 and an inner section 29 of reduced diameter. A plug 30 isthreaded into section 28, the plug having a recess 3! in linewith recess29. The plug and end of the head define an annular face 32. Projectingoutwardly from the head and in axial alignment therewith, is a tip 34,prefer-ably integrally connected with the plug 30, the tip being of alength approximately the same as, but preferably slightly greater than,the depth of recesses or perforations l4 which are to receive thefasteners. For example, where the perforation in the panel isapproximately A," in depth, the tip would be, say, in length. Tip 34 hasan axial bore 36 extending to recess 29. The maximum outer diameter ofthe tip, which may be slightly tapered as shown, is of approximately thediameter of perforations I4 whereby the tip may be readily receivedwithin the perforations.

Bore 35 is of a diameter to readily receive the stem 20 of a fastenerIS.

A magnet 38 adapted to set up a magnetic field is mounted within theelongated space defined by recesses 29 and 3|. The head 26 andpreferably plug 39 are made of non-magnetic or relatively non-magnetic,stainless steels, such as those of austenitic classification whereby themagnet is shielded except at the bore 36.

In the operation of the device and in carrying out the method of theinstant invention, a fastener I6 is mounted in" the head by insertingstem 20 within bore.36. The magnetic'field set up by magnet 38 andconcentrated in bore 36 facilitates the insertion of the fastener andretains it against accidental displacement, irrespective of the positionin which the gun may be held in the further preparatory operations. Apanel I0 is laid in proper position on the furring strips or otherbacking and is temporarily held, suitably by the free hand of theapplicator. He then inserts the point of the fastener into the selectedperforation and operates the hammer, the repeated impacts or vibrationsapplied to the hammer head by the pneumatic or electrical drive causingthe nail to be driven forwardly through the material at the base of theperforation and into the furring strip. As will be readily understood,it is essential that the nail be driven home to bring the head or collarl8 into firm binding engagement with the material of the panel at thebottom of the perforation and to preferably, at least partially embedthe head in the material as illustrated in Fig. 3. However, due to thereadily compressible and destructible nature of the panel -material,care must be taken not to drive the fastener too far. In the instantinvention the applicator is notified when the fastener is in the desiredposi tion partially by the somewhat increased resistance to driving whenthe head is forced into the material at the bottom of the perforation,but also by the approach of face 32 to the face of the tile. That is,when the face 32 comes into contact or approximate contact with thepanel, the applicator will know that the fastener is completely driven.

The device is simple in construction and operation. The fastener, 'heldin position in tip 34, may be easily and quickly inserted into theselected perforation and from that point on the operation of driving thefastener is substantially automatic. Inasmuch as the tool is manipulatedentirely by one hand, the other hand is left free to hold the panel inplace while the initial fastener is being driven. 7

Having thus described my invention in rather full detail, it will beunderstood that these de tails need not be strictly adhered to but thatvarious changes and modifications may suggest themselves to one skilledin the art, all falling within the scope of the invention as defined bythe subjoined claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for securing members having preformed recesses to asupport by headed fasteners including rearwardly projecting stems, ahammer head including a flat face and a tip projecting therefrom, saidtip being of an outer diameter to be received within said recesses andhaving an axial bore of a diameter to receive said stem, and means forreciprocating said head at high frequencies and in a direction to drivesaid fastener.

2. In an apparatus for securing panels having preformed recesses to asupport by headed fasten-' ers including rearwardly projecting stems, ahammer head having a flat face and a tip projecting therefrom, said tipbeing of an outer diameter to be received within said recesses andhaving an axial bore of a diameter to receive said stem, means forsetting up a magnetic field with in said tip to retain a fastener withinsaid bore against accidental displacement, and means for reciprocatingsaid head at relatively high frequencies and in a direction to drivesaid fastener.

3. In an apparatus for securing panels havingpreformed recesses to asupport by headed fasteners including rearwardly projecting stems, ahammer head having a flat face and a tip projecting therefrom, said tipbeing of an outer diameter to be received within said recesses and of alength slightly greater than the depth of said recesses and having anaxial bore of a diameter to receive said stem, and means forreciprocating said head at relatively high frequencies and in adirection to drive said fastener.

4. In an apparatus for securing panels having preformed recesses to asupport by headed fasteners including rearwardly projecting stems, ahaminer head having a hollow interior portion, a tip projecting fromsaid head, said tip being of an outer diameter to be received withinsaid recesses and having an axial bore of a diameter to receive saidstem, said bore extending to said hollow interior portion, a magnetwithin said hollow interior portion to set up a magnetic field withinsaid bore to retain the fastener against accidental displacement, andmeans for reciproeating said head at relatively high frequencies and ina direction to drive said fastener.

5. In an apparatus for securing panels having preformed recesses to asupport by headed fasteners having stems projecting rearwardly from thehead thereof, a tubular hammer head having a forward face, a magnetwithin said tubular hammer head, said head including a closure plugdefining a part of said face and having a tip projecting therefrom, saidtip being of an outer diameter to be received within said recesses andhaving an axial bore of a diameter to receive said stem, and means forreciprocating said head at high frequencies and in a direction to drivesaid fastener.

6. In an apparatus for driving fasteners in-- cluding a rearwardlyprojecting stem, a hammer head having a fiat forward face and a hollowtip projecting therefrom and adapted to receive the stem of a fastener,and means for reciprocating said head at high frequencies and in adirection to drive said fastener.

7. In an apparatus for driving a fastener including a rearwardlyprojecting stem, a hammer head having a hollow interior portion, a tipprojecting from said head and having an axial bore of a diameter toreceive the stem of the fastener, said bore extending to said hollowinterior portion, means to set up a magnetic field within said bore, andmeans for reciprocating said head at relatively high frequencies and ina direction to drive said fastener.

8. In an apparatus for driving a fastener including a rearwardlyprojecting stem, a tubular hammer head having a fiat forward face, saidhead including a closure plug defining a part of said face and having atip projecting therefrom, said tip having an axial bore of a diameter toreceive the stem of the fastener, and means for reciprocating said headat relatively high frequencies and in a direction to drive saidfastener.

WILLIAM S. MILES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 847,888 Birdsall Mar. 19, 19071,164,086 Gooding Dec. 14;, 1915 1,185,190 Fitzgerald May 30, 19161,699,519 Brown Jan. 22, 1929 1,856,336 Hysing May 3, 1932 FQREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 18,697 Great Britain Nov. 19, 1890

